Penalty wins: Manchester City beat Liverpool and conquers England Super Cup

Klopp's complaints in the absence of Mane

The beginning of August is the season opening time in the leading European football countries. By tradition, he starts the match for the Super Bowl. On the eve of the winner of the prestigious trophy identified in France and Germany, and on Sunday came the turn of England.

And it is quite logical that in the battle for the next title two teams came together, which last season fought for the championship to the end and outnumbered the other opponents - Liverpool and Manchester City. At the same time, the “citizens” won not only the Premier League, but also both the cup national tournaments - the FA Cup and the League Cup.

Thus, Liverpool received the right to challenge the trophy from a principled opponent only as a silver medalist of the country's championship. But wards Jurgen Klopp won the Champions League.

The German himself before the Super Bowl fight through the press complained that Manchester City, in fact, can spend as much money on new players as he wants.

Josep Guardiola replied in response that Liverpool is also not the poorest club.

“Of course, I do not like Klopp's words, because this is not true. Last year we spent only £ 17 million per player. Two seasons ago, I spent a lot, but only because I came to the team where there were 10-11 players over 30 years old, ”Sky Sports quoted the Spaniard.

By the way, Manchester City spent in the current transfer window € 90 million on new players, and Liverpool € 1.9 million. But there were practically no newcomers to both teams in the starting lineup for the match. Is that in the center of the mankuniantsev came out Rhodri.

Both teams actually fought the forces of the old guard. At the same time, there were fears that the slaughter trio of attackers - Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane - would not help the Mercy Sides in the Super Bowl game, but as a result only Wembley was missing from Senegal, whose place in the roster was expectedly won by Divok Origi.

Manchester City fast goal and Zane's injury

At the same time, the game began for Liverpool unsuccessfully. Already in the 12th minute, the opponent opened the scoring. The “townspeople” quickly played out the standard, and Alexander Zinchenko, having connected on the flank, completed the shed into the penalty area. In turn, David Silva made a discount on Rahim Sterling, who at close range sent a projectile into the net.

True, it was not without problems for Guardiola. Even before the goal, a knee injury in a collision with Trent Alexander-Arnold received Leroy Zane. As a result, the Germans had to change. But just the other day I expected the transfer of midfielder to the “Bavaria”.

The loss of Zane to “Manchester” as a whole did not affect, and the current champions continued to own the advantage and carried out attack after attack.

"Liverpool" was forced to rely on counteractions. In the course of one of them, Mohamed Salah punched into the post from a sufficiently acute angle. A little later, the Egyptian dangerously hit his head after filing Origie, but the ball went higher.

Not without controversial judicial decisions. So, at the very end of the inning, Joseph Gomez roughly flew into Silve's ankle, but referee Martin Atkinson did not show the card to the Liverpool player. But the “yellow card” saw in front of him Guardiola, who was too actively outraged by the decision of the referee.

Successful substitution of Klopp and penalty shoot-out

But the second half began more than actively for both teams. First, a weighty word was said by the author of the goal Sterling. Before Atkinsonon had time to blow the whistle, Rahim from the penalty area after a lumbago shot from the flank struck a little higher. But it was not the end.

Literally the next minute, the defense of "Liverpool" simply failed, and Sterling quietly ran one on one with Alison right in the center. The attacker aimed in the far corner, but Klopp's wards were saved by a barbell.

However, soon luck turned out to be on the side of Manchester City. After filing a corner Virgil van Dyck beat from the limits of the goalkeeper for sure, but hit the crossbar. And in the next attack, Salah beat the defender in the penalty area and shot at the post.

Realizing that the game was getting out of control of the “citizens”, Guardiola sent tired Silva to rest, and Ilkay Gundogan released him instead. Klopp responded with a double substitute and threw Joel Matip and Nabi Keith into battle.

And as a result, the German reshuffle paid off completely, because in the 77th minute the Cameroonian managed to level the score. Liverpool earned a dangerous standard, and Jordan Henderson completed an excellent serve on Van Dyck. The Dutchman made the perfect transfer to Matip, who sent the ball into the net. The judges just in case looked VAR, but in the end absolutely rightly decided to deduct the goal.

Scoring, already “Liverpool” received a charge of self-confidence and in the end could easily snatch victory. Perhaps the most dangerous moment in the 92nd minute Salah missed. Mohamed head threw Claudio Bravo, but the projectile from the goal line made Kyle Walker. And in the last attack, Sherdan Shakiri dangerously struck into the near corner, but Bravo in this situation managed to take shape and saved the team.

As a result, the teams had to determine the fate of the trophy in a penalty shootout, and Manchester City was luckier. I decided to save everything Bravo after hitting Veynalduma. Subsequently, Alison almost reflected the blow Zinchenko, but the ball still slipped into the net.

Thus, the "citizens" began the season with the conquest of the next trophy and for the second time in a row raised the Super Bowl. In total, this title resigned to them for the sixth time in history.